wife Meaning, Definition & Usage

Wife noun

Etymology

OE. wif, AS. wif; akin to OFries. & OS. wif, D. wijf, G. weib, OHG. wib, Icel. vif, Dan. viv; and perhaps to Skr. vip excited, agitated, inspired, vip to tremble, L. vibrare to vibrate, E. vibrate. Cf. Tacitus, [" Germania" 8]: Inesse quin etiam sanctum aliquid et providum putant, nec aut consilia earum aspernantur aut responsa neglegunt. Cf. Hussy a jade, Woman.

Wordforms

plural; Wives

Definitions

1. A woman; an adult female; -- now used in literature only in certain compounds and phrases, as alewife, fishwife, goodwife, and the like. " Both men and wives." Piers Plowman.

   On the green he saw sitting a wife. Chaucer.

2. The lawful consort of a man; a woman who is united to a man in wedlock; a woman who has a husband; a married woman; -- correlative of husband. " The husband of one wife." 1 Tin. iii. 2.

   Let every one you . . . so love his wife even as himself, and the wife see that she reverence her husband. Eph. v. 33.